Altitudinal gradient has specific factors that affect the composition of the bird community. A study of bird species based on altitude zonation on the Mount Kerinci hiking trail through Kersik Tuo, ...Kerinci, Jambi was conducted in August 2021 to know how the composition and structure of bird communities differed based on altitude zonation. This study was conducted using the point-count method. Point-count distributed along the hiking trail from 1,755 to 2,906 m asl and included in three zones (Zone I: 1,755 - 1,900 m asl: Zone II: 1,901 - 2,500 m asl: and Zone III: above 2,501 m asl). Four hundred sixty-seven individuals from 78 species of birds were recorded along the hiking trail. This number indicates that the number of bird species in the study at Mount Kerinci was more than the number of bird species in the study at other mountains in Sumatra. Species richness was the highest in Zone I (54 species), followed by Zone II (34 species) and Zone III (20 species). The species richness decrease as elevation increases.
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•Hiking impacts are still understudied, particularly on invertebrate communities.•Biases in publications prevents generalization of findings and management actions.•Mortality and ...behavioral effects need to be separated.•Literature-derived classification of species responses is unadvisable.•The joint use of plant and invertebrate species, when possible, is endorsed.
Hiking is a natural exercise that has become one the most popular outdoor activities, promoting physical fitness and de-stress without large investments or special equipment. However, hiking has downsides, particularly in the areas in which it takes place. From soil compaction and erosion to disturbance and ecological impacts, mounting evidence shows that it is far from innocuous to ecosystems. Despite spanning several decades, research on the impacts of hiking on ecosystems and particularly on the pertinence of using ecological indicators is still scarce. This work reviews the published information conducted with invertebrates and, by doing so, offers insights to guide not only management actions but also further investigation in this scope. We address some of the current knowledge gaps and provide recommendations by focusing on ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) for their sensitivity to disturbance, representativeness but also due to their taxonomic and functional diversity. Due to the limited number of studies published so far, the classification of species based on their habitat preference, within the context of trail impacts, is non-consensual. Alternatively, such classification should derive from its respective study and avoid being generalized, or done with great caution. Additionally, sampling methods that distinguish mortality from behavioural changes were considered crucial to determine possible effects. Ultimately, the joint use of both vegetation and invertebrates, particularly ground beetles, was considered relevant to assess hiking trail ecological impacts.
Due to the 3 years and 4 months of corona, many things have changed throughout society, such as social activities, free movement, and lifestyle. One of them is the increasing public interest and ...demand for walking tours. Public awareness of health and leisure activities has increased due to lifestyle changes, aging, and urbanization following the spread of infectious diseases such as COVID-19, and demand for walking tour services is also increasing. As of 2019, nationwide About 560 ‘Walking Trails’ of 1,849 courses were created, with a total length of 18,000 km. In this study, in a situation where social interest and necessity for walking tours are increasing, studies related to walking tours are reviewed, and sustainable management plans for walking tours are proposed. To this end, the concept and research trends of walking tours were examined through literature related to walking tours, and in-depth interviews were conducted with a total of 17 people, 8 visitors and 9 officials, with Ansan Daebudo Haesol-gil as the target. Visitors In-depth interviews with 180 contents were coded, and 147 effective contents were divided into 20 subcategories and organized into 7 upper categories. In-depth interviews with 101 stakeholders were individually coded, 96 effective contents were divided into 14 subcategories, and organized into 5 upper categories. After that, it was reviewed based on the contents organized through qualitative content analysis, and the Five implications were derived. The significance of this study is that the study was conducted on specific Haesol-gil in the suburbs of the metropolitan area. The limitation of this study was that more detailed investigations and considerations were not conducted on the positive and negative effects of walking tours on the Daebudo area. As a follow-up study, academic arrangements and case studies on regional regeneration through walking tours are required.
Hiking trails provide the opportunity for people to access, experience, and appreciate natural areas, but they also pose the risk of damage by converting vegetated areas to trail, providing the ...opportunity for off-trail hiking, and increasing soil compaction. To assess the impact of hiking trails on the plant community of a northeastern forest ecosystem, trail width was measured, and understory vegetation was documented at the trail edge, 3 m from the trail, and 5 m from the trail every 4 km along the Northville–Placid Trail from Benson to Averyville Road in the Adirondack State Park of New York State in August 2018. Soil compaction, canopy cover, and the tree species in the canopy were documented, including from the trail itself. The mean trail width was 65.18 ± 6.06 cm. Within the 183.39 km of trail sampled, 119,533.60 ± 11,113.43 m2 of forest were replaced with trail. Soil compaction was greatest in the trail and significantly lower off the trail. None of the canopies of the tree species was more likely to occur away from the trail than adjacent to or directly above the trail. Canopy cover did not differ significantly among sample locations. Cover of understory species was not significantly different near to or away from the trail. Species richness in the understory was significantly higher adjacent to the trail than 5 m from the trail, but trail width, canopy openness above the trail, canopy openness adjacent to the trail, and soil compaction were not significantly related to species richness adjacent to the trail. Understory community composition was more similar among plots within a sample location than between plots 5 m from the trail at adjacent sample locations. Collectively, the plant community outside of the trail itself is not significantly affected by the presence of the trail. The major impact of the trail is the loss of the plant community at its margins as the trail width increases. Hikers should be further educated and encouraged to use trails in ways that minimize the width of the trail to protect the ecosystem, along with trail managers continuing to increase the sustainability of the trail design.
This study presents a methodology for assessment of the condition of hiking trails (HTs) and their impact zones in the central part of the Low Tatra mountain range, based on comparison of two complex ...data sets gathered in 33 years apart. The first field investigation was performed in 1980 and 1981, and the second in 2013 and 2014. The main goal was to perform a landscape typology in order to assess the susceptibility of landscape complexes to occurrence of anthropogenic and natural destruction processes and to assess the condition and prospects of HTs and their impacts on the adjacent alpine environment. Landscape complexes were characterised by selected abiotic, biotic and technical parameters of HTs and their impact zones. Due to the high variability of these parameters over the length of the HTs, we had to decide on how to map them. This was done using a square grid with 100 m-sized cells. For each cell with HT, the parameters were assigned the typical value within that cell. In total, 26.3 km of HT were studied, stretching over 266 grid cells. On comparison of the two data sets, it was seen that, 64% (171 grid cells) display a generally positive condition, with 54% (143 grid cells) even exhibiting significant improvement or continuously positive state of their condition. 36% (95 grid cells) were in bad condition, including 3% (9 grid cells) whose state had deteriorated, and 2% (6 grid cells) whose state had significantly deteriorated, in the time between the two assessments.
Using maps is inevitable in many human activities as well as in mountaineering. Until recently, most of the spatial and attribute data of the mountaineer’s interest could have been found only in ...analog form. With the development of information technology, global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), easily accessible measuring sensors and digital cameras, it is easier to collect, store, visualize, share, and update spatial data. The web GIS with its associated applications assumes dominance in browsing and dissemination of spatial data, and is applied in areas where there is a need for processing, analysis and visualization of various data that contain a spatial component, including mountaineering. When planning hiking, mountaineers need both spatial and attribute information on mountaineering facilities, checkpoints, and hiking trails in the form of GNSS traces. Through the interactive web application interface, it is possible to connect all these data, enabling easy viewing, browsing and analysis, or performing various spatial queries, which greatly facilitates the planning of hiking excursions. This paper presents a review and comparison of four most visited Croatian mountaineering portals: HPS’s
,
and
developed at the Faculty of Geodesy of the University of Zagreb and
portal developed by the group of mountain enthusiasts. Numerous data on Croatian mountains and peaks, mountain facilities, huts and hiking trails are now accessible through portals to anyone with Internet connection, either with the computers, tablets or smartphones. All users can browse, filter and download data from the portal, and there are additional options for authorized users such as commenting on portal content. Several thematic portals of neighboring countries were also analyzed (portal of the Slovenian Mountaineering Association, Slovak mountaineering portal and one Swiss mountaineering portal) and compared with Croatian portals. Finally, the importance of the web GIS portals for the development of mountaineering tourism was emphasized, as well as the ecological culture and the sustainability of the mountaineering environment (preservation of mountain trails and facilities, protection of endemic plants, karst and geological features, etc.).
• The presented web GIS represent an effective and efficient tool for planning and conducting trips in mountain areas as it allows better organization and management of mountain content for the tourists and other hikers.
• Registered users can participate in the portal update (e.g. peak or hill endonyms) and this can be used by State Geodetic Administration for their register of geographical names (
• The Web GIS can also be used as a support in the tourism development of local mountain areas with respect to the ecological culture and sustainability of the mountain environment.
Snakebites can pose a significant threat to human health as the destruction of natural habitats and increased human intrusion into ecosystems result in more frequent encounters with snakes. ...Mitigation measures for snakebites are particularly crucial for hiking trails where transportation of snakebite victims to medical facilities is challenging due to limited emergency resources and difficult access. This study employed a random forest-based species distribution model approach to investigate the potential habitats of
spp., specifically
,
, and
, in South Korea and to assess the snakebite risk in national parks. Potential habitats of
spp. were identified and visualized by overlaying binary maps derived from species distribution models (SDMs) of each
spp. that corresponded to high-risk snakebite areas. In addition, hiking trails with high snakebite risk in the national parks were identified after demonstrating the statistical correlation between the potential habitat distribution of
spp. and the actual snakebite incidents in major regions of South Korea. The primary environmental variables determining
spp. habitat were the topographic position index, slope, and the annual average of the maximum and minimum temperatures. The potential habitat of
generally appeared in high-altitude mountainous areas, mostly in the eastern part of the study area. Favorable habitats for
and
were predominantly located in mountainous areas throughout the study area, with the exception of some high-altitude mountainous terrain in the east. The number of snakebite incidents per 10,000 people was significantly correlated with the area ratio of
spp. potential habitat (Spearman's rho = 0.638,
< 0.01). The proportion of snakebite risk areas among national parks in South Korea ranged from 18% to 57%. This study can support practical solutions to prevent injuries and fatalities among hikers due to snakebites by identifying areas with a high risk of snakebite accidents at the hiking-trail level.
Exotic plant invasion is one of the major causes of species extinction. In many contexts, mountainous forests are the last refuge for native species. There are several inventory studies conducted in ...mountainous and tropical forests in Indonesia. However, there are no studies yet on the factors that explain the abundance and richness of surveyed naturalized alien species. This study investigated whether the number of individuals and abundance-weighted species richness (AWR) of naturalized alien plant species in the hiking-trail of Mount Gede-Pangrango National Park (MGPNP) forest area correlated with leaf traits (specific leaf area (SLA) and leaf thickness) and environmental factors (elevation, slope, and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)). We showed that leaf thickness and habitat elevation explained the AWR variations of naturalized alien species. We did not detect any important effect of leaf traits and environmental factors on the number of individuals per exotic species per plot. The influence of leaf thickness and habitat elevation indicates the important role of both biotic and abiotic factors on exotic species to develop a high species richness and become an invasive species in the tropical mountain forest ecosystem.
Mapping can act as a preliminary tool for the protection of natural areas and for land-use management, as it uses an easily transmissible international language which cannot be misunderstood. ...Geoheritage mapping can provide great opportunities for the transfer of geosciences information to the large public and policy makers. Recently, the geotourism map appears as a basic tool for the protection and promotion of this geoheritage and as a means to activate and mediate the geotourism image of the region. Aït Bou Oulli Valley is located in Moroccan Central High-Atlas, precisely within the M’Goun geopark. It is characterized by a rich geodiversity with respect to other areas of Central High-Atlas Mountains. It harbors a wide-range of geological and geomorphological heritage, and an exceptional landscape of high Mountains. The valley attracts a number of tourists whose number is skyrocketing on a yearly basis, but their number remains limited due to the absence of promotion and mediation tools of its geoheritage and to the absence of the cartographic documentation. This study aims, hence to elaborate a new geotourism map of Aït Bou Oulli Valley using digital mapping tools and fieldwork. The map shows geosites and high mountain landscapes and offers an overview of the valley’s geoheritage. This map is supported by tourism-related infrastructure, which will provide useful information for tourists. It also highlights the valley geodiversity with a view to promoting its geotourism through the establishment of three new geo-hiking trails.
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